eichelgrun



May 1, 1928.

' 1,668,007 M. ElCHELGRUN INCLINE!) PLANE SWITCH Filed July 1 1.927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 lnrenl'ol': 4% W May 1, 1928.

'M. EICHELGRUN IQCLINED PLANE SWITCH Filed July 18, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented ey l, 1928.

it i w mete. 1t that time Mt -ede- INCLINED-PLANE swrron.

Application filed July'm, 1927, Serial No. 206,766, and in Germany September 80, 1926.

In the working of field railways as well as in the mine service where light and transportable tracks are used, itis usual that the. si'dings' connected to the main track are to be connected almost every day, according to the progress of the work, to another point of the main track. This joining of the sidings was hitherto done by means of switches laid-in the main track or, if one did not want to'interrupt the main track, by means of turntables to' be placed upon the main track. Thelaid-in switches present the inconvenience, that they cannot be rapidly displaced and that the removing and laying requires much-time, an inconvenience which is "further increased by the necessity to lay fresh rails into the gap left by the removed switch. These laid-in switches further branch only 1n one direction, either to the left or to the right, so

that always two kinds'of-switcheshave to be kept in store, to provide for the requirements in service. I i a The turntables on the other hand pre- 1 sent the inconvenience, that only one car of the turntable to be placed onto the main track with the switch, and which consist in an uninterrupted, continuous service by the running through of whole trains.

The invention consists in that the hitherto required left-hand switches and right-hand switches are united in one switch in such a manner that by simply turning over of the switch a right-hand switch is made from a left-hand switch and inversely.

An embodiment of the invention is shown, by way of example, in the accompanying drawing showing a switch pressed from sheet metal.

Fig. 1 shows in top plan view the switch with track turning to the left.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of 1.

Fig. 3 shows the switch of Fig. 1 turned over so that the track branches now to the right.

Fig. t is a section on line AB of Fig. 1 through the straight tracks.

Fig. 5 is a section through the point arrangement on line CD of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a section on line EF of Fig. 3,

Fig. 7 is a section on line G-H of Fig. 3 and shows at the same time the turned over {picture of Fig. 4 for use as right-hand switch. 7

Fig. 8 is a section on line IK of Fig. 3 throughthe ramp and the crossing plane.

Fig. 9 is a side elevation of a climbing ramp.

r Fig. 10 is a perspective view of the switch as letthand switch and Fig. '11 is a perspective view, which shows I the switch of Fig. 10 turned upside down, so that the side of the switch which serves in F 1g. 10 as rear side is now the front side and the switch acts as right-hand switch.

a The possibility to use the switch on its rront side (as left-hand switch) and on its rearsrde (asv right-hand switch) has been obtained by providing at those points of the switch, on which the wheel has to be conductedover the track situated underneath the switch, perfectly plane surfaces 1, 2 and 3. These plane surfaces are continued by running ribs or grooves pressed out in upward and in downward direction and serving to give to the wheels the required guldlng. These running ribs are connected the one with the other by cross bars 33, 34: and 35. In the left-hand switch, Fig. 1, the straight track is composed of the running ribs 4 and 5 to which belong the ramps 6, 6 7 and 7". The curved track consists of the running ribs 8, 9 and 10 continued by the two ramps 11 and 11.

To one pair of ramps belongs a pointed switch tongue, for instance the tongue 29 which rests upon the rail head 30, Fig. 1, and ramps 6 and 7, descending between the rails and designed to catch the flange 31 of the wheel 32 and to guide the same in upward direction. This arrangement has been made for the reason that when the wheel is running up when the switch has been turned upside down, i. e. serves'as right-hand switch according to Fig. 3, the flange 31 of the wheel would strike onto the climbing tongue of the running rib at. This has been avoided however, by providing in the running rib 4 an incision at the points 13 and 1 1, so that the flange of the wheel has suf'ucient space to pass. Similar incisions are further arranged at the points 17, 18, 19 and 20. As by the incision 13 the climbing tongue for the running rib i has to be omitted, the ramp 6 has been provided, which together with the ramp 6 makes the wheel ascend. The ramps 12, 12, 15, 15, 16 and 16 are arranged in the same manner.

On the rear side of the switch, which has for instance to serve as right-hand switch (Figs. 3 and 11), the straight track consists of the running ribs 21, 22, 23 and 2 and the curved track of the running ribs 25, 26 and 27. The running ribs 4:, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 of the front side of the switch act on the rear side of the switch as hollow grooves or guide rails. The running ribs consist therefore, as can be seen from Figs. 1 and 7, of juxtaposed grooves open now in upward direction and then in downward direction which, when the switch is made from pressed sheet metal, show an S-shaped cross section. The switch tongues 28 and 29 give, by their adjusting, to the ear the direction in which it has to run. In the Figs. 1 and 8 only one tongue is provided, for each tongue there might however be arranged a second oppositetongue, said tongues being then connected the one withthe other by a connecting rod. The surfaces indicated in hatched lines in Figs. 4 and 7 represent short filling pieces which are fixed by rivets in the grooves at certain distances apart and enlarge the surface of bearing on the rails 30.

Iclaim: 7

1. An inclined plane switch constructed so that the upper side serves as switch for the one direction the lower side serving as switch for the other direction when said switch has been turned upside down.

2. An inclined plane switch as specified in claim 1, in which running ribs are formed by grooves pressed into the upper surface and into the lower surface so that a groove on the one side of the switch becomes a running rib when the switch has been turned upside down.

3. An inclined plane switch as specified in claim 1 the juxtaposed grooves of whichare of S-shaped cross section.

4. An inclined plane switch as specified in claim 1 comprising plane surfaces instead of the crossing and the tongues and only the flange of the Wheel running on said. plane surfaces. i

5. An inclined plane switch as specified in claim 1 comprising ramps arranged in'such a manner that on the one side incisions are arranged designed to let pass the flange of the wheel and separate ramps for conduct-- ing the flange in upward direction and on the other side only ramps for guiding the tread in upward direction are arranged so that one wheel of an axle running up the switch rolls on the same with the tread, the other Wheel running up the switch with the flange.

In testimony WhereofI aifix my signature.

MARTIN EICHELGRllN. 

